Another one of those “just when you thought they could not be any more stupid” moments:
Employers are facing more uncertainty in the wake of a letter from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission warning them that requiring a high school diploma from a job applicant might violate the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The development also has some wondering whether the agency’s advice will result in an educational backlash by creating less of an incentive for some high school students to graduate.
The “informal discussion letter” from the EEOC said an employer’s requirement of a high school diploma, long a standard criterion for screening potential employees, must be “job-related for the position in question and consistent with business necessity.” The letter was posted on the commission’s website on Dec. 2.
Employers could run afoul of the ADA if their requirement of a high school diploma “‘screens out’ an individual who is unable to graduate because of a learning disability that meets the ADA’s definition of ‘disability,’” the EEOC explained.
Pretty sad in light of the fact that most welfare recipients must work a GED (high school equivalent) just to keep getting their checks!
To me, a diploma just means the person can make a general practice of showing up most days.
How stupid is this?
The schools will do anything possible to help people graduate. The diplomas are a screening device, just as requirements for college or technical school coursework.
Education is a wonderful gift and it’s free.
Anyone with a good work ethic and positive nature can find a job, maybe not as a astrophysicist, but a job.
I’d like to hear/reD more about this decision.